Well just got in from the DC COI show, and since I wrote a longer review for Baltimore this will just be a shortened one highlighting the DC differences.
First off they shuffled the skate order again. Sarah opened, not Sasha. Oksana came between Todd and Philippe (thank you! IT was a shock to go from Todd to Philippe). I'm not even going to attempt to give an order this time. By luck I ended up with a 2nd row seat. I was originally 6th, but the camera was then blocking the whole center of the ice so they offered to move me to the second row where the camera only blocked the one corner. That was a nice pleasant surprise - been a while since I got to be that close.
O.K. here we go:
Nicole: Yup she was there and skating quite well. Landed at least a 3 toe and 2 Axel, plus another or so that I didn't make note of. Skated to a completely forgettable Latin/Spanish pop piece I think. I had trouble trying to ID just what kind of music it was. Unlike previous numbers this just didn't do it for me.
Dorothy: Was in the opening but found out later that she had an injury and did not skate a solo or appear in the finale.
Brasseur & Eisler: Completely gone this time. not even the opening. Found out Lloyd has an injury.
The opening: Quite a laughable moment, Elvis is standing in the shadows ready to take the spotlight and they read off his titles, then pause, then "Todd Eldredge" - Elvis was like "what?" Took about 15 seconds for the guy to realize his mistake and go "Ellllllvvvvisss Stojko." What made it funnier is that Todd was up next and his and Elvis made faces at each other as they passed. It was just too funny.
Dan - stole the show again, had the crowd from the word 'go.'
Rudy - Biggest and longest standing ovation, and you could tell that he was really moved by it - looked like there were tears in is eyes. The applause just went on and on. That all followed a flawless "SitC" routine (I really like the black costume sooo much better)
Todd - Magnificent. No jump wobbles tonight - he was in fine form! Nice partial ovation. It really was a rather stunning performance of this program.
Boitano - again missed the Lutz and had to do a retake. Had fun hamming it up while they played his music til it hit that point.
Other retakes were Michelle for two jumps, Surya for one, Sasha for one, Bereznaya & Sikharulidze for the throw.
Bereznaya & Sikharulidze: I think this program is a winner - they look great doing it. Tonight about halfway through Anton unbutton his shirt which of course got a big reaction. He's also either dyed or frosted his hair as it looked quite blond.
Michael: Once was already too many times for this program and if I never see it again I'll be happy.
Elvis: Love the music, but *please* *please* Elvis do at least a *little* skating or footwork. 3(?) jumps and lots and lots and lots of mugging. *sigh*
Finale: I actually got to see more of the finale tonight as unfortunately the camera blocked my view of Todd where he was lined up at the boards. It really is a lovely number and since they had to do a retake of a botched lift by B&S, hopefully most of it will make the TV version.Overall the show was much better than it was in Baltimore. Many less errors and the skaters looked more rested and relaxed.
